AN: I hope you are enjoying Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). I am so glad you all love this story, I never imagined so many people loving it as much as I enjoy writing it! Thank you for all the support! And, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
As doctors, patients are always telling us how they'd do our jobs.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
It had been about two and a half weeks and since the George and Meredith had slept together, and George was still in a deep, depressive funk, and despite Cristina's protest, George was staying with Burke and Cristina at their apartment.
He needed a change.
Until looking at himself in the mirror today, he didn't know what he needed to change.
He grabbed some scissors and started to chop off his hair, in a crooked, unflattering, haircut.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Just stitch me up, slap a band-aid on it and send me home. It's easy to suggest a quick solution, when you don't know much about the problem or you don't understand the underlying cause or just how deep the wound is.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Meredith and Derek were meeting up once again, so Meredith could spend some time with Doc before she had to go into work.
Derek tossed a stick for Doc to chase as they walked in a more sedated pace behind him.
"So your friends ... they still mad about this very bad horrible thing you did?" Derek asked her.
"The very horrible bad thing that I won't tell you about? Yes they're still upset." Meredith said, except for Eddie, who always reminded her she was here to talk if Meredith needed it.
"Well whatever it is I don't want to know. Even if I beg. Don't tell me." Derek informed her.
"Okay, I won't." Meredith said, she had no plans to.
"Good. Okay. Although we are friends." Derek reminded her.
"True, we are friends." Meredith agreed.
"Technically you tell friends stuff. You come to me with a problem, I give you the answer. After maybe we celebrate the moments of our lives." Derek said, trying to sound casual.
"I will keep that in my mind next time I do a horrible thing. What about you, don't you have any problems you want to tell me about?" Meredith asked him.
"Truthfully, at this moment in time I don't have any problems. Not a single one." Derek said giving her his 'McDreamy' grin.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The first step toward a real cure is to know exactly what the disease is to begin with. But that's not what people want to hear.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Cristina Yang was enjoying her alone time, while her boyfriend and her unwanted guest, George, were out on a run. For the last two weeks, George had been sleeping on their couch. And, every time Cristina brought up George leave and going back to the frat house, Burke reminded her he needed space.
Her boyfriend and George had become something akin to friends, and Burke wouldn't let her kick out his little pet project.
"Good morning!" Burke greeted his girlfriend as he and George entered the apartment after their run.
"Ah how many miles was that Dr. Burke?" George asked, panting slightly.
"Five!" Burke called as he made his way into his bedroom.
"Five. Five miles in fifty minutes. Nice." George said as he entered the kitchen to get some water.
"We can get it closer to forty-five." Burke informed the intern as he reentered the livingroom.
"Pancakes?" George asked, looking for the ingredients.
"Ah, top cupboard." Burke said.
"What's wrong with your hair?" Cristina asked, speaking for the first time.
"Leave the man alone. He's got issues. And if he wants to cut his hair to get over those issues that's his business. His thing." Burke told his girlfriend.
"It's my thing." George repeated to Cristina, then he turned to Burke and asked, "Coffee?"
"Oh cappuccino." Burke agreed.
"Ooh excellent. Cappuccino." George agreed.
Cristina couldn't help but feel like she was in the twilight zone.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
We're supposed to forget the past that led us here, ignore the future complications that might arise and go for the quick fix.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
It had been four days since Mark Sloan had returned to New York City, and the moment he left, he wished he didn't have to. He was counting down the days to when he would be in Seattle permanently.
It was amazing how much he changed since he found Eddie pregnant, with his daughter, how much his world shifted. New York didn't feel like home anymore, he wasn't into the random hookups he used to do, he still went out, but didn't feel the desire to pick up random woman, and he stopped sleeping with Lindsey, who tried to rekindle their "relationship". His thoughts were never to far away from Frankie and Eddie.
And, if he was honest with himself Eddie charmed him when they met all those months ago when she was in New York City and his biggest regret was not waking her up before he left for his surgery or possibly exchanging numbers.
He was currently in his office in New York, he was in-between surgeries. He had an early morning surgery and his next one wasn't until a few hours, so he was in his office working on paperwork, and when he noticed the time, he decided to call his girls to see how they were.
After he returned to New York, they quickly fell back into their routine of numerous daily phone calls.
"Hey Mark!" Eddie said when she answered the phone. He swore he could see her bright and shiny smile in his mind.
"Hey sweetheart." Mark greeted as he leaned back in his chair and looked out his window of his office.
He had a mountain of paperwork, but, he wanted to give Eddie his full attention, and he had been doing paperwork since he arrived this morning and he needed a break.
"How was your surgery this morning?" Eddie asked, as she made her way around her apartment with Frankie in her arms as she got ready for their day.
She knew he had a facial reconstruction this morning.
"It went well." Mark said as he looked at a recent photo of himself, Eddie, and Frankie when they had gone and done some tourist-y activity in Seattle on one of his last days there. A person had taken it for them so all three could be in the shot. "He is going to make a full recovery."
One of the few "family" photos they had.
It was right next to the one of Eddie and Mark at the hospital with a newborn Frankie shortly after she was born.
"That is good." Eddie said with a grin. "What else is on your schedule for today?"
"I have two breast augmentations to do and a few consults. What about you two?" Mark said.
"Frankie has her check up this morning and I have a shift today and Frankie is going to spend some time in the hospital daycare. Then we're going to go out to eat with Conrad tonight." Eddie said.
"Sounds like a good day." Mark said.
"Yep." Eddie said as she was looking for something.
She muttered something in Portuguese.
"You loose something?" Mark asked amused. He had learned over his time getting to know the mother of his child, that she spoke in Portuguese when she was either talking to Frankie or if she was annoyed.
"Yes. I cannot find my keys." Eddie said.
Eddie always put her keys on the key hook by the door. But, Eddie had arrived home after a long shift, having stayed five hours past her scheduled shift, and Frankie had a blow out on the way into the apartment and Eddie kind of just dumped everything by the front door, and didn't bother to put it back, which usually drove her crazy.
She wasn't messy like Cristina, but, she wasn't also obsessively clean like her mother that made it look more like a show home, but comfortably lived in.
"Did you check your bag?" Mark asked.
"Yes."
"The key hook?" Mark guessed.
"Uh-huh." Eddie said.
"How about your island." Mark said as Eddie searched the island countertop, which was pretty clean, but, not spotless. But, found the keys under a few pieces of junk mail she hadn't thrown away with yet.
"Found them!" Eddie cheered.
Mark smiled, knowing she was probably doing a bit of a happy dance.
"Thank you." Eddie said.
"You're welcome." Mark said with a laugh.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"What happened to George's hair? Is he having a nervous breakdown?" Izzie asked Cristina as they made their way to rounds.
She hadn't said anything when she saw it in the intern locker room. But, it wasn't flattering. He looked like a hobbit. If he wanted to change up his look, he shouldn't have done it himself. And, she put this under things that were Meredith's fault. In Izzie's world, if Meredith hadn't slept with George, then he still would be at the Frat house where he belonged and his hair would not look like a walking billboard of why you should never cut your hair after a bad breakup or heartbreak.
"Burke says he's got issues. Uh you should see them together. Like doing things, like running ... and cooking and talking. They're like bonding." Cristina complained to Izzie and Meredith.
"And you're afraid that Burke will realize he makes a better girlfriend than you?" Izzie teased Cristina whom sent her a withering glare.
"You know Meredith just go and apologize to him." Cristina said, sending a pointed look at Meredith.
"I've tried!" Meredith said.
The only people who hadn't pushed her to apologize were Eddie and Alex. Because they had no idea what happened, they told her whatever happened, couldn't have been that bad, to warrant George acting like the wronged boyfriend.
"Try again. Things can't stay like this. They suck like this." Izzie ordered.
"What's up with O'Malley's hair? He looks like a hobbit." Alex asked as the approached the group.
"He's just trying a new look." Izzie informed him.
"You never called me back last night. You avoiding me?" Alex asked her curiously.
She had been blowing him off on and off for the past few days. He couldn't figure out why. Things had been going so good lately, now Izzie was blowing him off. And, last night they were supposed to meet up, he called her and she told him she would call him after work, and she never did. He hoped it had just been the fact she was tired, not because she was punishing him for some unknown reason.
"Why would I be avoiding you?" Izzie asked.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
When Eddie got to the hospital, she along with Bailey who returned from maternity leave earlier that week, and Rory Burkhardt were greeted with the news that the nursery was closed due to a pipe bursting, it had also taken out a few other rooms in the hospital.
But, luckily, not the OR, or ER. Which had been closed for a few weeks after the bomb going off. According to the maintenance man it should be an easy fix and they would be open again bright and early tomorrow. But, for right now, all three women had no other option for childcare and calling in wasn't really an option.
Eddie's other childcare options (her brother and friends) were at the hospital for their own shifts, and Mark was back in New York. Bailey's husband was out of town for work, having a clean bill of health now, except for driving. And, Rory had no family in the area, and even if she did, she wouldn't have any of them watch her son.
So, with no other options, it looked like they were going to have to work around the fact that they had to keep their kids with them while they worked and if a surgery popped up they'd have to figure it out.
Rory and Bailey told Eddie to go to Frankie's appointment and they would find Richard to see what he would want them to do. So, Eddie made her way to the pediatrics floor just in time, though she had cut it a bit to close.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Bailey's interns, minus Bailey and Eddie, entered their first room in rounding, which happened to be Denny Duquette, Dr. Burke's patient.
"Denny Duquette. Age thirty-six." Izzie presented.
"Thirty-seven in three weeks." Denny added for her.
"Thirty-seven in three weeks. He's having difficulty breathing and chest pains." Izzie finished.
"Breath sounds?" Burke asked the intern who had practically spent every shift since Denny entered the hospital on his case.
"Still a little junky. He has a build up fluid in his system." Izzie informed the attending.
"Hey did you just call me a junkie? That's not very nice." Denny complainingly teased.
"Denny, your congestive heart failure is getting worse despite the meds." Burke informed his long-time patient.
"Alright so how do we proceed?" Denny asked seriously.
"Doctors how do we proceed?" Burke opened
"Titrate up his nitrate drip and continue with diuretics plus-" Alex started, but was interrupted by Izzie.
"ACE-inhibitors, Beta-blockers and start dobutamine." Izzie said.
"I also want his ins and outs recorded and one of you monitoring him at all times.' Burke ordered.
"I'll stay." Izzie quickly volunteered.
"Me too." Alex added, wanting to spend some time with Izzie.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
It was now the last round of the day, and it was Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd's patients. Mrs. Gibson.
"Mr. and Mrs. Gibson, I'm Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd. I'll be covering for Doctor Pollack." Addison introduced herself to her newest patients.
"Mrs. Gibson had a pre-term premature rupture of her membranes at twenty-eight weeks." Meredith informed Addison.
"She's confined to supervised bed rest for seven weeks and has a low grade fever." Cristina added.
"Can't you just schedule a C? Believe me, I'm ready to have this baby." Penny Gibson asked, she was tires of being pregnant.
"Hey you and me both." Her husband commented.
"I want to get your blood work back before we make any further decisions." Addison informed the annoyed and heavily pregnant woman.
"I have to pee. Again." Penny complained, as Mr. Gibson quickly hopped up to help her up.
"Come on, here we go." Mr. Gibson said as she waddled off, he knew that she didn't want to be touched.
"I appreciate you taking over my wife's case uh, uh Dr. Pollack says you're the best." Mr. Gibson said to the redheaded doctor.
"Oh it's my pleasure Mr. Gibson." Addison said.
"He didn't mention that ah- wow you bear a striking resemblance to a young Catherine Deneuve." Mr. Gibson commented.
At the complement, Addison looked a little surprised. She had never really been complemented like that by patients spouses.
"Oh you've, you've never heard that before?" Mr. Gibson apologized.
"Uh, eh no. Sorry I, I have to say it's a first." Addison said, awkwardly.
"Been told I look like Halle Berry." Bailey said as she entered, still wearing Tuck in his carrier.
"Ah beautiful. Beautiful. Well Miss Deneuve. Of course you are too but by extension." Mr. Gibson explained, a bit awkwardly.
"Right, we'll be back um in later to check on your wife." Addison said.
"Look forward to it!" Mr. Gibson said.
They all left, and made their way towards the nurses station.
"Uh ER needs a consult." Bailey said as she situated Tuck into a better position.
"Uh O'Malley, Grey why don't you go and take that?" Addison said, picking out two interns.
"What about Mrs. Gibson?" Meredith asked.
"I'll take care of Mrs. Gibson." Addison said, as Meredith nodded and left.
But, George didn't.
"Uh they really need both us?" George asked, not wanting to spend time with Meredith at the moment.
"I'll guess you'll find out. Go!" Addison ordered as George reluctantly left.
The attending then turned her attention to the resident as her little boy started to fuss.
"Are you taking him to the nursery?" Addison asked as Bailey shook her head.
Bailey: Ah it's closed, due to a pipe burst, and Tucker's out of town until tomorrow." Bailey explained to the resident.
"You brought your baby to work?" Webber asked as Eddie came over to the group, dressed in her light blue scrubs and Frankie was in her own carrier against her mother's chest, sniffling due to the fact she had to get her shots, and she made it very well known to her mommy (and daddy, who had been on the phone) that she didn't like it.
Addison takes Tuck from Bailey and tries to calm him down for Bailey, who looked flustered.
Neither Eddie or Bailey had planned this for today.
"Uh yes Chief." Bailey said.
"There was a pipe burst in the daycare. It's closed." Eddie explained. "Dr. Burkhardt also has to keep her son with her."
"You're not going to take him into surgery with you?" Webber asked.
"Uh, uh I don't have anything scheduled for today." Bailey said.
"And, I haven't been assigned any cases today." Eddie stated.
"Yet." Webber commented.
"Okay, I can't solve a problem until there's a problem to solve. Are you saying there's a problem?" Bailey challenged. "Two of your residents and an intern all have no childcare, and we are needed here, unless you want to be short staffed."
"Yeah, is there a problem Richard?" Addison asked.
It wasn't like this was a common occurrence. Eddie, Bailey, and Rory couldn't change the fact they were left in a lurch without childcare.
"No." Webber said, awkwardly, knowing he would not win this. Addison, Bailey, Rory, and Eddie were all forces to be reckoned with by themselves....but together, he knew he would lose, even if he was the chief.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
George and Meredith stood awkwardly at the elevator, waiting for what seemed to be the longest elevator wait in history.
"You know at some point you are going to have to talk to me." Meredith said as she looked over at George, who was pointedly ignoring her.
"I'm gonna take the stairs." George snapped shortly as he made his way to the stairs as the elevator door opened.
Meredith sadly gets into the elevator, wondering what more she could do.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Meredith entered the ER and made her way to one of the ER residents.
"You paged?" She asked.
"Yeah just got a new patient. Looks surgical. Maybe neuro." The resident informed her, as he pulled open a curtain to show Meredith a young, couple sitting on a bed together. Meredith looked down and saw the ice-pack on Kyle's groin.
"Doesn't look neuro to me." Meredith told him.
"Not him." The ER resident said.
"Oh no I'm fine. It's my wife." Kyle Booker said.
"This is so embarrassing but we didn't know what else to do." His wife, Sylvia Booker said as she turns slightly to reveal a fork embedded in her neck.
"Oh." Meredith said shocked.
"We were at the Hotel Monaco having brunch. I...we had some mimosas-" Kyle started.
"Uh can we just skip that part. Can we pull this out and just go...I'm fine really." Sylvia promised.
"Sylvia was giving me some special attention. Under the table." Kyle continued.
"Oh dear lord." Sylvia moaned.
"Oh! Okay." Derek said not wanting to know.
"Sweetie, they're doctors. They've heard it all." Kyle stated.
"Yes, we have." Derek said.
"Absolutely." Meredith agreed.
"While I was down there something happened. It was like a shock went through my body." Sylvia explained, not sure how to really explain how she got into this situation.
"And she clenched." Kyle explained.
"Clenched?" Derek asked confused.
"My jaw. It just shut." Sylvia explained.
"And I panicked." Kyle said motioning towards the fork.
"Oh yeah." Derek said with a nod.
"And I grabbed a fork off the table and it was just instinctual." Kyle explained to them, it wouldn't be their first though. Though, it saved them from a more awkward ER visit, Meredith assumed.
"It doesn't hurt that much. We just didn't want to pull it out cause it's in there pretty good." Sylvia said.
"No you did the right thing. Pulling it out could cause more damage." Meredith agreed.
"You know I wanna do an x-ray. I wanna make sure there is no nerve or major blood vessels being comprised. Now Mr. Booker did you get your injury um, you know, checked?" Derek asked, shifting uncomfortably.
"Oh Doctors say I'm fine. It's just some bruising." Kyle said, shrugging it off.
"Good. Okay. I wanna find out what's causing the clenching. Now do you have a history of seizures?" Derek asked Sylvia.
"No, nothing like that." Sylvia denied.
"It may...It may have something to do with her brain aneurysm." Kyle informed the neurosurgeon.
"Kyle!" Sylvia exclaimed.
"What?" Kyle asked.
"I don't want to do this now." Sylvia cried.
"No it's not on there." Meredith said.
"Can't we just take this fork out and go?" Sylvia asked, desperately, and annoyed her husband had brought it up.
"No." Derek said.
"She was diagnosed about six weeks ago." Kyle explained.
"And your doctor didn't recommend surgery?" Derek asked them.
"All the surgeons have said it's inoperable." Sylvia explained, which is why she didn't want to talk about it.
"Hmm."
"That's why Kyle and I are here in Seattle. The Space Needle. I've always wanted to see it." Sylvia explained.
"We wanted to see it together." Kyle agreed.
"Do an MRI. It was good to see you today." Derek said softly to Meredith.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Uncle Conrad!" Milo called excitedly as he saw Conrad Quinn and raced ahead of his mother.
"Milo!" Conrad said as he scooped up the young boy. "What's up bud?"
"No daycare!" Milo informed him happily. He was excited to spend the day with his mom.
"No daycare?" Conrad asked as he raised his eyebrow over at Rory.
"Pipe burst, so no daycare today." Rory explained. "So, Bailey, Eddie, and I are making the best of it."
Conrad nodded.
"I'm gonna be a doctor like momma!" Milo cheered.
Conrad grinned at the three years old. "That's so cool buddy."
Milo nodded.
"Do you have any surgeries today?" Conrad asked his friend, to be honest, she was one of his best friends.
"Yeah, this morning in about two hours. A craniotomy, I can see if Morris could take my surgery." Rory explained.
"Don't worry about it." Conrad said, thinking of his schedule. "I can take the little man this morning. I'm doing rounds and some paperwork before my surgery at two."
"Really?" Rory asked, as Conrad nodded.
"Yeah, what do you say buddy? Want to help me round on some patients?" Conrad asked as Milo nodded widely.
"Okay, thank you Conrad." Rory said, "I'll come find you in an hour?"
Conrad nodded.
"Okay mister, lets go," Rory said as Milo happily went over to his mom.
Conrad grinned as he got a page from the nurses station on the surgical floor, that had the location being there. Slightly confused, trying to figure out what could be wrong and made his way towards the nurses station.
When he got there he was shocked to see his brother, Alec Quinn standing there, dressed in dark washed jeans, a nice grey t-shirt, and leather jacket.
"Alec!" Conrad grinned as he went to hug his brother. "What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to visit my little brother and sister." Alec said with a charming grin.
Conrad gave his brother a 'really' look.
"I needed to get away. I found Jenna in bed with some guy. We broke up...and I just needed to get away for a few days." Alec said. "I just packed a bag and drove....and ended up here."
Jenna Lawrence, was Alec's long-term girlfriend Conrad knew he was going to propose to, he had the nice big ring and everything. According to Alec, the reason she hadn't come up for Thanksgiving or when Eddie had her baby was because she had been working on a big campaign for L'Oréal where she worked. And, it wasn't uncommon, she, like Alec, was dedicated to his job, so her cheating was a bit out of left field.
"Oh man," Conrad said, feeling horrible for his brother. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need. I am here for a bit, and Eddie started her shift, if you want to go to my place..."
"I might hang around here for a bit." Alec said, "see my little brother and sister in action for a bit. And, maybe go see that niece of ours."
Conrad nodded his consent.
"Actually. The daycare is closed today, maybe we can find Eddie and you can steal Frankie for a while."
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In the ambulance bay, Bailey made her way to greet the paramedics with Tuck strapped to her chest.
"What do we got?" Bailey asked the paramedic.
"Tachycardic in the 140s. Systolic is in the 60s. Last was 72 over 40." The paramedic informed the resident.
"Can you turn that off? Turn that off!" Bailey yelled over the siren as Tuck cried.
"Okay!" A paramedic said as he went to turn off the siren.
Cristina came up to Bailey, looking for a case. Eddie was on the case with Addison and while George and Meredith's case looked interesting, she didn't want to be stuck with whatever weird thing was going on between Mer and Bambi. And, the only cardio case was Denny's and Izzie was hostility territorial of him. And, she and Alex were doing some weird...thing...and she didn't want to deal with that.
"Dr. Bailey." Cristina said.
"Here, take him." Bailey ordered as she handed Tuck over to Cristina.
"Uh what?" Cristina asked.
"You're going to watch him." Bailey ordered Cristina.
"No, no, no. You don't want me to do that. I can..." Cristina stammered.
"Yang I have a patient! I need to operate on that patient right now! Take him!" Bailey ordered as Cristina looked panicked.
"Page the Chief!" Cristina begged.
"No I'm not paging anyone. I'm a surgeon. I'm going to do the surgery. Cris...I ... I need you to help me Cristina." Bailey begged.
"I...I ..."
"Take him. Watch from the gallery! You both can." Bailey ordered as she raced off with a baffled Cristina, holding an upset baby.
Maybe she should have went with one of her friends.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Hey." George said as he approached Callie.
"Hey. You didn't call me." Callie informed George, somewhat sadly that the guy she liked didn't call.
"I did. I did. A few times. I just hung up every time." George admitted honestly.
"Nice. Very stalker like. Goes with the hair." Callie commented.
"I just thought it would look good a little shorter." George said, somewhat self consciously.
"It is shorter. ... I make you nervous don't I?" Callie asked with a knowing smile.
"Yeah a little." George admitted bashfully.
"That's good." Callie said.
"Yeah, that's what?" George asked, confused.
"Hey are you busy?" Callie asked after a moment.
"No." George said, anything to be away from Meredith at the moment.
"You wanna see something really cool?" Callie asked, excited.
George followed Callie over to her patient, a hockey player, who had what looked like a broken and dislocated finger.
"Whoa." George said.
"Excellent, right?" Callie asked.
"Yeah it is." George agreed before he turned to Heath, the patient, "How'd you do that?"
"After hockey practice this morning. I didn't have my glove on cause I was getting a drink from the goalie's water bottle and the next thing I know this ass-head crashes into the net, my hand gets tangled in the mesh and I start hearing pops." Heath explained.
Callie looks at the films that had just arrived.
"Big pops." Heath said.
"Dr. O'Malley, what do you see?" Callie asked the intern.
"Oh dislocation of the PIP joint and multiple fractures. That must really hurt." George commented.
"It's just a finger. Last season I took a puck to the face; broke two teeth." Heath said with a shrug,
"Oh yeah." George commented, amazed by his pain tolerance.
"Orthos love hockey season. It's like Christmas every day." Callie said.
She loved hockey season, she was still on a high from assisting Conrad Quinn in a hockey involved case. A player had a stake stuck into his shoulder, getting in under the pads, when they were practicing, it was an interesting surgery to watch.
"Can we just like put it on a splint or something? I've got a really big game this afternoon." Heath said.
Callie and George exchange shocked looks. Was this guy for real?
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Hey! There is my favorite sister." Alec said when he found Eddie sitting at a nurses station with Frankie on her lap.
Eddie was aware of the nurses who had been working had stopped to look at her eldest brother. Alec was a handsome man with dark hair and bright blue eyes, with a charming grin that could melt even the coldest hearts.
"Alec!" Eddie said with a bright grin as she stood up and made her way over to her eldest brother. "What are you doing here?"
"Surprising two of my favorite girls." Alec said as they hugged.
"Likely story." Eddie said, "you okay?"
"Jenna and I are done." Alec said, as a sad look crossed her face. She had talked to Jenna over the phone and a few times over web cam.
"Oh, I am so sorry. Do you need anything?" Eddie asked, "I am a pro at helping get through heart break."
Eddie had been by Eli's side after every hard breakup, just as he had been with her. Though, Eli had more experience than she did. He had five serious relationships. Two in high school-one with Emily Proctor, another with Gabriel Worthington. Then three in college and law school, with Fulton Hersh, Marielle de Castor, and Robert Kettlewell.
Eddie only had two serious boyfriends in her twenty-one years. The first was when she was fourteen until she was sixteen, Tyler Cameron, and then the other was Panju Sharma when she was eighteen to twenty.
"I may take you up on that, but right now, I am just going to watch my brother and sister be doctors. Maybe watch a surgery or two." Alec said.
"Well, you'll see Conrad for sure preform a few. I on the other hand don't preform surgeries yet." Eddie said.
"True, but still, I want to be the proud big brother." Alec said as Eddie grinned.
"I also have come to kidnap this little princess. Hi Frankie!" Alec cooed as he scooped Frankie up. "Oh you've gotten so big!!"
Eddie smiled. "Kidnap her?"
"Yeah, I'll watch this little one, while you're being a doctor. I don't want you to miss out because the daycare is closed." Alec said as he held Frankie to his chest.
"Are you sure?" Eddie asked.
"Yep." Alec said, "don't you think so Frankie? Do you want to spend the day with Uncle Alec?"
Frankie cooed at her uncle's excited baby voice.
"If you are sure." Eddie said as she handed him the carrier she was wearing along with the baby bag.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Um, do you know what you're doing? I mean have you ever done this before?" Sylvia asked Meredith as she sat in one of the trauma rooms.
"Have I ever pulled a fork out of somebody's neck?" Meredith asked.
"Mmm right. Ok. Yeah let's just do it." Sylvia said to Meredith before she turned to Kyle. "Honey?"
"Mmm?"
"Talk to me." Sylvia said.
"Okay." Kyle said with a nod, not quiet getting what she wanted.
"Distract me." Sylvia ordered.
"Okay. Think about Paris." Kyle said.
"Okay."
"And the food and the wine." Kyle continued.
"Uh huh." Sylvia hummed.
"And the long walks we'll take together and the Champs de what?" Kyle asked her, forgetting the correct pronunciation.
"The Champs-Élysées." Sylvia said as Meredith yanked the fork out of her neck.
"More food." Kyle continued.
"Yes." Sylvia agreed.
"More wine." Kyle said.
"Okay." Meredith said.
"That's it? Oh my god, I didn't even feel anything. You're amazing. She's amazing." Sylvia said, amazed at how quickly it was done and how painless it had been.
"So how much do you know about this Dr. Shepherd?" Kyle asked Meredith curiously.
"Kyle. No. I do not want another MRI. I want to go to Paris." Sylvia told her husband, almost begging him.
"I made a few calls. He has an incredible reputation." Kyle stated.
"Please Kyle. Let's just live our lives. I wanna go crazy. I wanna crawl underneath the table. I wanna go to Paris while we still can." Sylvia said, not wanting to think about this anymore. If she was going to die, she wanted to do it in a place she always wanted to visit.
"Dr. Shepherd is an extraordinary surgeon. If he thinks he can help a second opinion couldn't hurt, could it?" Meredith asked Sylvia honestly.
"There won't be a second opinion. It'll be a fourth opinion. And when Dr. Shepherd says there's nothing more that he can do, we'll be devastated all over again. I just wanna spend what little time we have left in Paris." Sylvia informed Meredith and her husband.
"So do I. But I don't want to go to Paris and wonder if we should've listened to the amazing girl who took a fork out of your neck." Kyle informed his wife seriously.
If Dr. Shepherd said it was impossible, then he would let it go, they'd go to Paris and spent the rest of her time together. But, he had a lot to make up for and he hoped that Dr. Shepherd could give her more time.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Alex entered Denny's room, and the patient obviously deflated. He had hoped to see Izzie. Ever since he had been admitted into Seattle Grace he had spent a lot of time with the beautiful blonde doctor and he had fallen for her...hard. And, he had gotten used to only Izzie caring for him.
"You're not Izzie." Denny stated.
"Sorry to disappoint you." Alex commented as he checked his vitals.
"Not disappointed, just saying. W-here is she?" Denny asked curiously.
"Well she's busy with other patients. I'm afraid you'll have to make do with me." Alex commented, bluntly.
"Look man I'm sure you're, I'm sure you're a fine doctor just, just not as much my type. No offense." Denny stated, somewhat charmingly.
"Yeah well I'll just have to settle on being Izzie's type." Alex commented, wanting to make it clear she was taken.
They had on and off had sex since the Code Black incident, but the recent encounters, were quick and becoming infrequent and when they spent their time together it was as if Izzie wasn't with him, and Alex knew that Izzie had started to spend a lot Denny. So, he wanted to make it clear that he and Izzie were a thing.
"So you ... you two ..." Denny asked, slightly confused.
"Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much you know." Alex commented.
"Congratulations." Denny muttered.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In an on-call room, Cristina was tense as she attempted to take care of Bailey's son. She defiantly wasn't a mothering type. She loved baby Einstein, she was adorable, but Eddie never asked her to babysit. And whenever Frankie cried, she could hand her right back to Eddie, and she didn't have to try and calm her down.
"A, b, c, d. Oh, gross. E, f, g, this really couldn't suck any worse." Cristina sang-talked as she tried to change the crying baby's diaper.
"Dr. Yang." Webber said as he entered the on-call room.
"Oh ah, Dr. Webber." Cristina greeted somewhat awkwardly, like she was caught doing something wrong by her parents.
"What's that smell?" Webber asked.
"Uh...it's feces, it's baby feces. We've had an incident, sir." Cristina said as she motioned to little Tuck.
"Are you having trouble with the diaper, Yang?" Webber asked, trying to hide his amusement at the situation that Cristina was in.
"Sir. No, sir." Cristina said.
"Because it looks like you're having trouble with the diaper." Richard commented.
"No, sir, I've got a ... I've got a MD from Stanford and a PhD from Berkley I can handle this diaper. Unless you want to?" Cristina offered hopeful, since she truly was struggling with the diaper even if she wouldn't admit it.
"Uh...n...no, no. It's alright, it's alright, you carry on. Carry on." Webber said uncomfortably as he left.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Meredith was pushing Sylvia in a hallway heading toward the MRI to get some images.
"Can we stop for a moment please?" Sylvia asked Meredith.
"Sure." Meredith agreed.
"I can walk." Sylvia informed Meredith. It was embarrassing to be pushed around the hospital.
"Oh, okay. The wheelchair is just protocol." Meredith said as the woman got up from the wheelchair with a grateful smile.
"Yeah well I'm way past caring about protocol. I just wanna feel my body move while I can." Sylvia explained to her as they started walking down the hall again with Meredith pushing the empty wheelchair.
"You seem incredibly ok with your prognosis." Meredith informed her, surprised at how accepting she was with her fate.
"More than ok. I'm a little in love with my prognosis. Woke me up. Woke my marriage up. Been sleepwalking about 15 years and now I am wide awake. I'm having this MRI for Kyle. He's not ready to let go. But me and my aneurysm ... we're good friends." Sylvia informed her.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Addison had been derailed slightly when she had found Alec Quinn, who was sitting at some tables next to her favorite coffee cart, and spent the last half and hour catching up and commiserating about their disastrous love life. And, when they went their separate ways she was back on the case of trying to find her way-ward husband.
She found him in the viewing room looking over some MRIs.
"Hey, I've been looking for you." Addison informed him as he barely glanced at her before he was looking back at the MRI.
"Hey. Look. Look at the size of this aneurysm." Derek commented as Addison joined him and looked at the big aneurysm.
" Yeah it's big." Addison commented.
"It's huge." Derek commented.
"You're going to try to operate?" Addison asked.
"Well I'm definitely intrigued." Derek said.
He had preformed this surgery once, and he had even seen Henry Quinn preform one when he was in the early days of his fellowship. He was trying to think of the best way to go at it if she gave him the green light and he had a pretty good idea what he would do.
"You know who Catherine Deneuve is?" Addison asked him.
"Hmmm ... yeah actress. French. Hot." Derek commented, not really paying attention.
"One of my patients...her husband actually uh said I looked like her." Addison commented, wondering how Derek would respond to that.
"Isn't she blonde?" Derek asked thinking of Catherine Deneve.
"Yeah ... I guess. I dunno...I...I dunno. Anyways so ... ok, you're busy." Addison stuttered out, sadly that her husband barely even reacted when another man called her hot.
He had hit Nicholas for Meredith.
He barely looked at her.
"Bye." Derek said as Addison left without saying goodbye.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Izzie was now the doctor looking after Denny. She had been pulled away to look after some of Dr. Burke's other patients but her mind was always on Denny.
And, the two of them were playing scrabble.
"I'm not just another pretty face you know. I've got it going on up here as well." Denny informed her, tapping the side of his head.
"So you keep telling me." Izzie commented with a smile.
"Yep. I probably know hundreds of words." Denny informed her.
"Really? Hundreds. Wow you're a real brain trust." Izzie commented teasingly.
"Ouch." Denny said.
"Oh I'm highly competitive. Screw. S-C-R-E-W. That's 25 points thank you very much." Izzie informed her patient as she placed the tiles down.
"Wait a second, now you didn't tell me we were playing naughty word scrabble." Denny said with a wide grin.
"We're not playing naughty word scrabble, you just have a dirty mind." Izzie commented as she tried to stop the blush from spreading across her checks.
"Oh, it's filthy but you're the one that put down screw." Denny said, motioning to the Scrabble board.
"I was referring to hardware, not sex." Izzie informed him.
"Oh. I guess maybe sometimes it's ah; it's hard to tell where you're...where you're coming from." Denny said.
"What do you mean?" Izzie asked confused.
"Alex ah ... he may have said something about you guys um being together." Denny informed her, wondering how she would respond.
"Uh well ... he had no business telling you that and besides it's not even true so ..." Izzie commented.
They weren't together.
She used him to blow off steam.
But now they were so done. Especially after he tried to ruin this for her. Denny was the first person to see her, and not the pretty girl.
"So you're not together?" Denny asked, hopeful.
"No. I mean yeah a little but not really so ... no." Izzie said.
"Okay ... well sweet. Thanks, thanks for clearing that up." Denny said, as he started to have serious trouble breathing.
"Denny what is it? Don't, don't panic! Just try to breathe!" Izzie said, as the monitors going off had a nurse coming in.
"Page Dr. Burke! Just try to breathe! Just breathe! Just breathe! Take it easy!" Izzie said as she jumped into action, to hopefully save Denny.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Denny was now lying on his bed breathing slowly but seems to be okay. While zzie and Burke are stood near his bedside.
"He had flash-pulmonary edema. I switched him to nesiritide, started him on milrinone and put him on BiPAP." Izzie informed Burke.
"That's a good call Stevens." Burke said impressed.
"Good call. Bad news right?" Denny asked.
"It's not good. The fact is Denny, you need a new heart and you're running out of time." Burke informed him seriously.
"Okay, so what's behind door number two?" Denny asked him.
"I would like to install a left-ventricular assist device. It's a battery operated machine to help your heart pump." Burke informed his patient.
"Battery-operated. I knew it. You people are trying to turn me into a robot. It's all part of your evil plan to take over the hospital." Denny attempted to joke.
"It's a bridge to transplant Denny. It'll keep you alive while we wait for your new heart." Izzie informed him
"Yeah that easy, huh? No catch?" Denny asked skeptical.
"There are some risks. Increased damage to your platelets, increased bleeding and if you do choose the assist device, you may not be able to leave the hospital until you get a donor heart." Denny informed him.
"Phew... yeah ... any other options? I'm gonna need time to think." Denny said seriously.
"Don't take too long Denny." Burke told him before he left the room.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Alex entered the on-call room Izzie had paged him to.
"Always happy to get this page." Alex said as he started to remove his shirt.
"Stop. That's not why I paged you." Izzie said, trying to control her anger towards this....ass. Stupid Evil Spawn!
"What you paged me to the on-call room to talk?" Alex asked, confused.
"No I paged you to the on-call room to yell. Why the hell did you talk to Denny about us? You had no right!" Izzie demanded, getting louder.
"Oh right because you never talk to Denny about personal..." Alex started.
"I don't talk to him about our sex life Alex! That is between us!" Izzie said.
"Oh, got it! So none of your friends know that we're sleeping together?" Alex demanded. He knew that their fellow interns knew they were sleeping together.
"I'm sorry are you saying that you and Denny are friends now?" Izzie demanded sarcastically.
"No I don't become friends with my patients Iz!" Alex exclaimed.
"You're an ass! You feel threatened by him! That is why you did that! There is no other reason!" Izzie accused.
Really? He might have felt threatened, but he was seeing his girlfriend flirting with another man, who clearly liked her. But, the question was why was Izzie freaking out so much...if she didn't like Denny back?
"You're his doctor Izzie! And he's your half-dead, possibly soon to be all-dead patient! How can I possibly be threatened by that guy?" Alex demanded, angry now.
"I can't believe you just said that." Izzie said hurt that he would call Denny something like that. He was going to be okay.
He had to be.
"Someone's got to." Alex said angrily before he stormed out of the room.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Callie and George were in the trauma room with Heath and his mom.
"I'll schedule the surgery for your son. In the meantime I'm sending Heath home today with a prescription for hydrocodone to control the pain." Callie informed Mrs. Mercer, Heath's mother.
"Look I...I get this is a bad break but it doesn't hurt that much. I'm telling you I can handle this! So here's what I'm thinking, we take this off; we put a small splint on my fingers so I can jam it into the glove. I play today and then I'm all yours!" Heath said, he needed to play today.
"You're not playing today. There's no playing today!" Heath's mother exclaimed.
"Heath, you're mom's right." George agreed,
"Thank you. Did you hear that? I'm right." Mrs. Mercer exclaimed to her son, then turned to George. "You're mother must be very proud of you."
"Scouts are coming today! College Scouts! I could get a scholarship today! Don't you get that?" Heath demanded to his mother.
This was his career they was talking about.
"Heath, if I cut that bandage off, we risk doing permanent damage to your finger. I'm with you man but I'm sorry there's no way we can put your finger into a glove today." Callie informed the teenager.
"There must be something you can do. I need to play this afternoon. This game ... it's what I've been training for my entire life. This is my chance to go to college. This is my whole future." Heath said.
"Oh honey, you can go to community college and get your grades up..." Mrs. Mercer started, but Heath left them in a huff of hurt and anger. He needed to play today. He needed to go to college and play college level hockey if he wanted his career to go the way he wanted.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Mrs. Mercer said as she left the room.
"Oh, sucks." Callie said sympathetically.
"Yeah." George agreed.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Addison Montgomery-Shepherd was eating her lunch going over the test results that Eddie had brought her. When Mr. Gibson approached her.
"Oh, Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd. Are those my wife's test results there?" Mr. Gibson asked the pretty doctor.
"Yes, they are actually. There's no infection. Everything looks good. I'm scheduling a C-section this afternoon. I was actually going to go up after lunch and tell her. Mrs. Gibson-" Addison started.
"You know you really do look like Catherine Deneuve." Mr. Gibson cut her off.
"I'm talking about your wife. Giving birth to your baby." Addison reminded the man.
"I know. I know. I'm sorry. May I?" Mr. Gibson said as he motioned to the empty chair across from her. Addison nodded, as he sat down.
"Listen I don't mean to focus on your looks. I mean you seem very kind, very intelligent; obviously you're a doctor. I don't mean to objectify or harass you in any way ... I'm usually not this awkward but you're just so extraordinarily beautiful. I understand if a beautiful, intelligent woman like you doesn't want to eat with me. So uh ... well, anyway ..." Mr. Gibson rambled on, and Addison, who was in some desperate need for someone who looked at her that way, even though it was wrong, quickly cut him off.
"No, no."
"Really?" Mr. Gibson asked shocked.
"Yes, stay. It's fine." Addison promised.
"Okay. All right." Mr. Gibson said with a smile.
Addison: You're gonna eat that pudding?
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Cristina entered the cafeteria to see Eddie with a blanket thrown over her shoulder, which she peaked at occasionally, Izzie, and George sitting at their usual table.
"Take him!" Cristina said to Izzie motioning to Tuck.
"No. Bailey gave him to you." Izzie stated. While she loved babies, Bailey chose Cristina to do this. And, she had her hands full with Denny.
"Eddie?" Cristina begged.
"I have my hands full with my own baby." Eddie said motioning slightly with her free hand to the blanket.
She had taken Frankie from Alec after she wouldn't take a bottle, and she was content in her mother's arms for a few hours while Alec sat in on Conrad's surgery for a bit, giving him a bit of a break.
"She's only gonna be in surgery for another half an hour. Hour tops. Take him. Take him." Cristian begged, hoping Izzie or Eddie would buy it.
"You're a liar. And you also smell like vomit." Izzie said with a wrinkled nose.
"Really? Cause I just think it smells like poo." George commented.
"Guys be nice." Eddie said, she knew she felt like she smelt like vomit or poop sometimes when Frankie has a blow out or spit up on her.
"Okay this is why some species eat their young." Cristina complained as she tried to keep little Tuck happy.
"How do you do it Eddie?" Cristina asked.
"It's not always easy, but she is worth it. It's different between your own baby and others." Eddie said.
"Have you talk to Meredith yet?" Izzie asked, ignoring Cristina and Eddie's conversation.
"Tomorrow ah I'm gonna buy a T-shirt that says 'Stop asking me about Meredith' and I'm gonna wear it every day until people stop asking me about Meredith!" George said as Meredith walks into the cafeteria and Cristina noticed.
"Maybe you should, I don't know, grow up and talk to Meredith?" Eddie said, tired of all this drama, she had tried to be nice, but it seemed like they needed a kick in the ass. "It's getting old George. It takes two for a sexual encounter between two consenting adults. So, grow up."
"Shh, at least they won't be asking you about your hair!" Cristina snapped.
Meredith joined them, sitting down at the table next to George. George gets up immediately and leaves.
Eddie rolled her eyes. George was being a huge drama queen. And, the look on Meredith's face broke her heart. Whatever happened, couldn't have warranted George's reaction. What did he think, she'd magically fall in love with him?
"Uh! Come on." Izzie cried as George left, then turned to Meredith with a pleading look. "Meredith, stop him!"
"What is she going to do? Lock him in a room and apologize until he accepts. That's kidnaping." Eddie commented as they watched George sit down with Callie at any empty table.
"What should I do? Knock him down?" Meredith asked Izzie sarcastically.
She had tried apologizing but George wouldn't hear it. He wanted nothing to do with her.
"Do you know that he cut his hair over my bathroom sink this morning?" Cristina asked her friend.
"George is a good roommate. If you tell him what's annoying you, he will stop." Meredith said with a shrug.
"No he's not my...he's not my...See this is why I shouldn't have given up my place." Cristina commented. She didn't want George as a roommate.
"Eddie, want a roommate?" Cristina asked, wanting George out of her and Burke's apartment.
"I have one. Frankie." Eddie said, "and it's getting small for us. So, no I don't need a roommate."
Eddie needed to look into finding a nice two bedroom apartment sometime soon so they could each have their own space. Especially before Frankie became more mobile.
"He would still be our roommate if Meredith would just apologize." Izzie said accusingly.
This was all Meredith's fault in Izzie's opinion. Which, really pissed Eddie off.
"I have apologized. I've apologized sincerely. And you know what? It takes two, to make a stupid sexual decision. So, whatever." Meredith said, throwing the words at Izzie that Eddie kept reminding Meredith.
She hated that everyone, but Eddie, seemed to be telling her it was her fault. She and George were both adults. It wasn't her fault. She could--and most likely would--apologize until she was blue in the face. But, George wasn't hearing it, so she can't force him to accept her apology. And, Eddie was right. It takes too...and if George is butt hurt, it is on him!
She gets up and leaves. Leaving Cristina and Izzie alone.
"Oh. I just miss when we all got along. Can't we just go back to that?" Izzie asked Cristina as Alex comes to the table and hovers over it, and Izzie follows Meredith and George's route, and left the table.
"Excuse me; I have to check on a patient." Izzie sneered glaring at Alex.
She left without another word and Alex throws his tray down hard on the table and sits down. Instantly Bailey's baby starts crying loudly.
Frankie was shocked and soon started crying as well. Eddie poked her head under the blanket and tried to sooth Frankie and get her to reattach while Cristina was glaring at him because there were now two babies crying. Which was worse than one.
"Awesome. Awesome! Thanks Alex. Thank you! Oh yeah. Okay." Cristina said annoyed as she tried rocking the baby to sooth him.
"Shut it. Shut it. Shut it." Cristina muttered.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Alec Quinn was watching his brother's surgery when he heard a set of footsteps enter the observation room.
"Hi Mr. Alec!" Milo's sweet voice chirped as Alec turned to see the young boy who had spent his morning with Conrad, himself, and Frankie. He was an adorable little boy and Alec enjoyed spending the day with him.
"Hey Milo." Alec greeted.
"Momma, this is Mr. Alec, Uncle Conrad's brother!" Milo informed the young woman beside him.
"Hi. I'm Dr. Aurora Burkhardt, but please call me Rory. I've heard a lot about you from Conrad and Eddie." Rory greeted offering her hand for him to shake.
"Dr. Alec Quinn." Alec said as he shook her hand. "I've heard a lot about you as well Rory."
"Look momma, Uncle Conrad is workin'!" Milo said as he pointed to Conrad.
"Yeah, he's doing a good job." Alec agreed as Milo came over to him and sat in the chair next to him.
"What's he doin?" Milo asked curious, as Rory sat down on the other side as the three of them watched the surgery.
Rory couldn't help but smile. Alec, like Conrad, was good with kids, as she watched him with Milo she couldn't help but smile. Alec was explaining to Milo with age appropriate words what was happening.
Alec's blue eyes met her's and Rory felt a flush color her cheeks, as she quickly adverted her eyes down to Milo. As Alec smiled slightly.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In Bailey's OR gallery, Cristina was holding a very antsy and upset Tuck. She uses Tuck's little foot to press the intercom button.
"Dr. Bailey!" Cristina said.
"What is it Yang?" Bailey asked as she was focusing on her surgery.
"Uh. He's crying." Cristina said.
"Let me hear him." Bailey ordered.
"What?"
"Let me hear the baby cry." Bailey repeated as Cristina held up Tuck to the intercom who was crying loudly.
"That's cry number four. You need to feed him." Bailey informed her intern.
Cristina pulls Tuck away from the intercom.
"Oh god. Oh." Cristina muttered.
This was so not her day.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"A double-barrel what?" Sylvia asked confused.
"The double-barrel brain by-pass." Meredith repeated.
"I'm gonna use two scalp arteries to re-direct the blood flow in your brain around the aneurysm." Derek explained to the couple.
"How come no one else has mentioned this?" Kyle asked, this sounded amazing, why hadn't anyone told them about this?
"Well it's a surgery that's been performed less than a dozen times. I have performed one successfully and I've watched one. I don't want to understate the risks." Derek explained to the couple honestly.
"Risks?" Kyle asked.
"Mmm hmm. The risks are that the aneurysm could rupture on the table." Derek explained.
"But you think there's a chance. A chance that it could work." Kyle asked, hopeful.
"No. Hell no. I'm leaving. And we're going to Europe. We've always wanted to see it. We've never had the time. This is the time. We're going. That's it." Sylvia said with finality.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Derek made his way to the nurses station, when Kyle approached him, he wanted Derek to try and convince his wife to try.
"Dr. Shepherd? Can I get a word?" Kyle asked.
"Yes." Derek said.
"Um, I'm sorry if my wife offended you." Kyle started, fidgeting slightly.
"Oh no. No offense at all." Derek said honestly.
"Oh. I didn't notice her." Kyle informed him, Derek gave him a quizzical look.
"I'm sorry?" Derek asked.
"For fifteen years I didn't notice her. When we got married she was everything and sometime, somewhere along the way I stopped noticing her, I stopped seeing her and since she's been sick she's all I've seen. And I hate that's what it took, I hate it and I'm sorry. But I love her. And I don't want her...I don't want my wife to die. Please talk to her. Dr. Shepherd, please." Kyle begged.
She wanted to give up...but he didn't...while he would take all the time in the world with her....he wanted more.
"Okay."
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
At another nurses station, Addison, Eddie, and Bailey were doing work. Eddie was sitting at the nurses station reading through a thick medical journal with impressive speed, because of how fast she took in and processed what she read. While Frankie slept against her chest under her blanket. While Bailey was filling out charts.
"I had a lunch date with my patient's husband today. He paid attention to me Miranda, Eddie. For a whole half hour." Addison explained to the two.
"Addison, you're not gonna fix the problem with your husband by having meals with someone else's." Bailey reminded the attending.
"You need to have Derek pay attention to you. Make him pay attention to get him to talk and understand what you need." Eddie said.
"Mmm." Addison hummed before she walked away.
"I mean it!" Bailey called.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Oh please eat. Eat. I'm begging you to eat! Yummy food. Yummy! Bailey. Breast...milk. Food. Come on!" Cristina begged as she sat at another nurses station, as she tried to get Tuck to take his bottle.
Burke comes up, slightly amused at the sight. Cristina was right, she was not a baby person.
"Well look at you." Burke commented with amusement coloring his tone.
"You find this amusing." Cristina accused.
"And you don't?" Burke asked her.
"Come on...you know what? I can't help you. I can't help you. I can not help you if you do not want to eat. If you're gonna keep on crying, then eat." Cristina begged, almost pleading, to the little baby, as George walked by and noticed and walked up to her.
George with what looked liked practice ease took Tuck from Cristina and the bottle. Tuck instantly stops crying and instantly successful, got Tuck to feed from the bottle.
"O'Malley, you're a natural. You have nieces and nephews?" Burke asked impressed.
"No sir, babies just like me." George said, Frankie seemed to like him to the few times he held her as well.
"Oh speaks to a good bedside manner. Keep it up." Burke said with a grin.
"Thanks sir." George said as Burke left and Callie made her way over to him.
"Hey, is that Bailey's baby?" Callie asked as she looked at little Tuck with sparkling brown eyes.
She loved babies.
"Yeah."
"Oh, oh he's so cute. Oh hi there. ..." Callie cooed as she gently touched Tuck's hand. She had also seen Frankie a little while ago and gotten some cuddles. The daycare being closed had not helped her baby fever, especially around George.
"So I scheduled the Mercer kid's surgery for tomorrow afternoon, I assume you want in?" Callie asked George in her normal tone.
"No, no I want in the surgery. Any surgery. I'll do it." Cristina begged practically catapulting herself out of the chair.
"Who are you?" Callie asked, having never seen this intern before.
"I'm Cristina." Cristina said.
"Sorry, I only need one." Callie said, not really sorry, as she turned to look at George.
"Oh well absolutely, I'm in." George said.
"Okay. Oh and George?" Callie asked.
"Hmm?"
"This is the last invitation I'm extending, so the ball's in your court." Callie said before she walked away.
"Okay." George said.
"Okay." Callie called back.
"Seriously?" Cristina asked her fellow intern.
"Seriously." George repeated.
"Nice. Think she has a couch you can sleep on?" Cristina asked him, which got her a dirty look.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Derek made his way to the ambulance bay, where he found Sylvia waiting for her husband to bring the car around.
"Mrs. Booker." Derek greeted.
"I'm waiting for my husband. He's bringing the car." Sylvia informed the handsome doctor.
"Mrs. Booker, I know you're worried about the surgery." Derek started.
"No, I'm not. I'm not worried about it, because I'm not having it." Sylvia said firmly.
"You're not having the surgery because of the medical risks." Derek said.
"No, I'm not having it because, because for the first time in twelve years I have a great marriage and I have a life. And I wanna live it." Sylvia informed the doctor seriously.
"You, you have weeks. If this surgery is successful, you're looking at decades." Derek informed her seriously.
"I don't think you understand. I'm not crazy and I don't wanna die but I don't wanna go back to being Kyle's bed warmer in a full-length flannel nightgown. Can you understand that?" Sylvia asked him, almost pleading for him to understand.
"I understand that you're tired of settling, so don't. Fight. Fight for your life. Fight for your marriage. Let me operate. And make a decision right now that you'll never settle again." Derek said, leaving Sylvia with a new view to think about.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"The LVAD will inhibit organ deterioration. It will allow you to get off most of the meds that you're on and it'll give your heart a much needed rest." Izzie informed Denny.
"Izzie, I'm just ... I'm just so tired." Denny said tiredly.
"I appreciate that but the LVAD also has increased survival rates over conventional therapies. And I think that you need..." Izzie started, but Denny interrupted her.
"Hey. Hey. ... Having this surgery ... it means I don't get to leave here. And you know how much I hate hospitals."
"I do know. But as your doctor I can't support you making any other decision. The surgery will allow you more time and we need more time." Izzie all but pleaded. She couldn't lose him.
"We?" Denny asked, quirking his eyebrow.
"We uh your doctors, need more time. ... ... And we need more time." Izzie said, making sure Denny understood what she was trying to say.
"So, you'll be here?" Denny asked, hopeful.
"Everyday." Izzie promised.
"And as an added bonus, it'll really piss off Alex." Denny said with a smirk.
"Yes, that it will." Izzie agreed. A small, tiny, added bonus.
"Okay." Denny said.
"Ok?" Izzie asked hopeful.
"Okay." Denny repeated.
"Okay. Okay." Izzie said with a smile.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
George was in the ER when he saw the familiar figure of Heath who looked a little too happy. This didn't bode well, George had a bad felling.
"Heath, hi." George said.
"Hey. Told you I couldn't miss my game and I didn't. I made two goals and one assist and there were scouts there!" Heath informed the intern.
"What did you do?" George asked.
"I cut off my finger. It's ok. I saved it so you guys can sew it back on." Heath said.
George was right. This wasn't good. Not good at all.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Inside Callie's OR, George and Callie were looking over Heath's severed finger and hand.
"There's tissue infection in here. Not good." Callie said sadly. This kid had just ruined his own future he had been so admitted in having.
"He said he found out how to do it on the internet. Who puts up Web pages on how to cut off your own finger?" George asked the Ortho resident who shrugged.
"Well he's got a passion and he sacrificed for it. You gotta respect that." Callie said after a moment.
"No ... you don't." George said then he turned to BokHee, who handed him a tool.
"Thank you BokHee." Hw said.
"He cut off his own finger. A finger... sorry...that would've healed perfectly in a few months." George said to Callie as he watched her work.
"Sometimes you can't wait. Just want the pain to stop. So you cut it off. The problem and the pain." Callie informed him sagely.
"That doesn't and the pain no. I mean if it's that painful..." George said to Callie, then thanked BokHee once again "Thank you-"
Then he turned back to Callie. "To start with, even if you cut it off there's always gonna be that phantom pain." George informed Callie.
"Your ex did a real number on you, huh." Callie commented.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Sylvia and Kyle were making their way into the OR. Sylvia was in a gurney, going into a surgery that may kill her, while Kyle walked beside her, holding her hand.
"You're quitting your job." Sylvia said.
"Oh absolutely." Kyle agreed.
"And we're selling the house." Sylvia added.
"Mmm hmm."
"And we're moving to Paris and we're spending that nest egg now." Sylvia informed him.
"Yeah." Kyle agreed.
"Promise?" Sylvia asked him, hopeful.
"I promise." Kyle said.
"Baby?" Sylvia asked her husband.
"Yeah." Kyle asked her.
"If I die, promise me you'll do it anyway." Sylvia said seriously. She wanted Kyle to live, even if she wasn't here.
"I promise." Kyle said.
"I'm sorry, this is far as you can go." Meredith informed Kyle.
"Sylvia, please don't die." Kyle begged his wife.
"I'll do my best." Sylvia promised before they shared a kiss.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Cristina was in an on call room, having been woken up by Bailey who had come to collect Tuck from the now, very tired intern.
"I fed him. Oh god there's poop everywhere. Wait." Cristina informed her resident.
"Go back to sleep Cristina." Bailey said.
"I know you're the boss of me and you could destroy my career and make my life a living hell and torture and pain and all that but just in the future... I don't baby sit!" Cristina informed her.
"Fine." Bailey said as she made her way out of the on-call room.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In an OR Addison was operating on Mrs. Gibson, with Eddie who was watching her. Up in the gallery, Alec was watching the surgery holding Frankie who leaned against him, watching her mother down below.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"I read that a patient's heart can sometimes remodel itself and they can be weaned off the LVAD." Izzie commented as she watch Burke working on Denny's heart and LVAD.
"It's not likely in Denny's case. His heart is too weak." Burke informed the intern.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In post-op Callie was talking to Heath and his mother. Callie was going to have to give the young man devastating news.
"When you put your freshly severed finger into a grungy-bacteria filled glove, you got a severe infection." Callie explained to Heath.
"What? No. The internet didn't say anything about infection." Heath said, not wanting to believe the doctor's words.
"Mrs. Mercer we didn't realize how deep the infection had gone until we were in there. There was too much tissue damage." George said.
"Heath, the infection was caused by a methicillin resistant staph bacteria and it's continuing to spread. We'll be lucky if we can preserve enough muscle for you to have any hand function at all." Callie informed them.
"What do you mean?" Mrs. Mercer said panicked, and turned to George. "What does she mean?"
"You may never regain complete control of your hand." George informed them.
"No. That's wrong. You're wrong. Ronnie Lott played for the 49ers when he cut off his finger, he could still play. I got the directions off the internet. I..." Heath started to panic, this wasn't happening.
"My poor baby." Mrs. Mercer said sadly, wanting to cry.
"Mom, stop. They're lying. They're just trying to scare me." Heath said, that had to be it, they were doing this because he found a way to play.
"Heath. I'm sorry. I really am but ... your hockey career is over." Callie said sadly.
"Mom. Mom. They're wrong, right? They have to be wrong." Heath said, starting to freak out.
"Oh sweetheart." Mrs. Mercer said sadly.
"I got the directions off the internet!" Heath said helplessly.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Is there any evidence of vasospasm or bleeding?" Meredith asked as she assisted Derek in his OR.
"No, it looks good." Derek said.
"So, do you think they'll move to Paris?" Meredith asked Derek.
"I hope so." Derek said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
After a successful surgery, Meredith and Derek were scrubbing out of surgery.
"That was amazing." Meredith said, with the euphoric high of surgery coursing through her.
"It was, wasn't it?" Derek said.
"Yeah."
"Yeah. Meredith. You know I was kidding this morning. I mean you can tell me about this horrible thing. Come on, you can talk to me." Derek informed his ex-girlfriend.
"As a friend?" Meredith asked.
"As a friend." Derek confirmed.
"There's a line between friends and not-friends and if I tell you this, if I tell you this whole horrible thing then you have to react as my friend. Not my not-friend." Meredith said giving Derek a hard look.
"I can do that. All right. You tell me what's wrong, I'll tell you how to fix it." Derek told Meredith.
"Okay. Are you ready?" Meredith asked him.
"I'm ready." Derek said.
"I slept with George. And, and it was a horrible mistake. And now everything has changed. And I don't know how to repair it. I don't even know where to start but I just know that I have to and ... Say something friendly." Meredith said, rushing it out, and watch Derek closely.
" You tell him that. You find George and you apologize." Derek said.
"That's what everyone is saying but he won't listen." Meredith said.
"Make him listen. You tell him you're sorry. Just tell him again and again and again until he listens." Derek advised her.
"How do I do that?" Meredith asked him.
"You do what I do. Use the elevator." Derek said before he left Meredith alone in the scrub room.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
George walked down the hallway with his back-pack dressed to go home. He dashes for an empty elevator that is about to close and makes it in. Meredith, seeing him, runs in just, squeezing in before the door closes. George moves to press the open door button but Meredith presses a button to a floor to stop him.
"You're trapped. ... And you don't have to talk. I'll do the talking. George, I am truly very deeply, sorry. And I'm not going to make excuses. I'm just sorry. ... Look, I know you're going to get off this elevator and walk away and not look back, I know that. But George, we're friends. Real friends, and that means no matter how long it takes when you finally do decide to look back I'll still be here." Meredith said as the elevator stopped on the floor below them.
George said nothing the entire time, and once the doors opened he rushed out.
Meredith sighed in defeat...
She wished she could have gone back in time and told herself not to sleep with him. Maybe she could have avoided this mess.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
As doctors, as friends, as human beings, we all try to do the best we can.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Eddie, Conrad, Alec, and Frankie were out to eat at a local Italian restaurant. The two younger siblings and the adorable baby were making their elder brother/uncle laugh. This is exactly why Alec made his way to Seattle. He needed to get away.
He wanted to get out of California. It suddenly felt stifling and everything reminded him of Jenna. Maybe, it was time for a change?
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Hey. Don't you have somewhere to be?" Denny asked Izzie tiredly.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm there." Izzie said as she sat down on the edge of Denny's bed.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
But the world is full of unexpected twists and turns. And just when you've gotten the lay of the land, the ground underneath you shifts.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Cristina entered her apartment, knowing she was going to be seeing George and Burke bonding when she entered. She could hear the clarinet and trumpet playing. And, it wasn't a CD.
She needed George out of her apartment as she made her way into her room.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
And knocks you off your feet.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Sylvia survived her surgery, and the couple were going to have a long, happy life in France.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
If you're lucky, you'll end up with nothing more than a flesh wound, something a band-aid will cover.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Hey Mark." Eddie said as she laid in bed after she got home from dinner with Alec and Conrad. She and Frankie bathed and she put Frankie down to sleep, and she was in bed herself.
"Hey sweetheart, how was your day?" Mark asked.
"It was good. Frankie is doing better, she really wasn't a happy camper after getting her shots. But, by the end of the night, she was her typical giggling self." Eddie said.
"Good." Mark said, "how did the whole no daycare go?"
"It went well. Alec came into town to surprise Conrad and I. He took her for most of the day." Eddie said.
Mark hummed. "That is good."
"I know, it was like he knew I needed him." Eddie said with a smile. "So tell me, how was your day? Did that surgery go well?"
Mark was preforming a very rare-high risk surgery today. It had a lot of complications and he had only seen it been preformed before.
"It went great. She is recovering beautifully..." Mark said.
"I told you, you could do it!" Eddie said with a grin.
Mark laughed.
"Yes, sweetheart you did." Mark said as he leaned back against the headboard as he reclined in his bed.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Hi." Derek greeted as he entered the trailer and saw Addison lying in bed.
"Hey." Addison said, noticing his contemplative look she said, "What?"
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
But, some wounds are deeper than they first appear and require more than just a quick fix.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"I was indifferent. You know in New York before Nicholas. I was just indifferent towards you." Derek informed her.
"Yes." Addison agreed.
"I was absent." Derek continued.
"Yes." Addison agreed.
"I'm partly to blame for what's happened to our marriage." Derek said, accepting that he was also part of the problem for the first time out loud.
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry...I'm working on it." Derek promised.
"Okay." Addison said with a small smile.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
With some wounds, you have to rip off the band-aid, let them breathe, and give them time to heal.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
At the frat house, Meredith laid in bed and just stared out the window. Trying to figure out how to fix everything that seemed to be going on with her life.